TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. -- Ulster County legislators have been shut down from becoming part of Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency deliberations.

The ban on taking comments from lawmakers was implemented Monday during an agency board meeting after several legislators asked to participate in discussions on business items.

"What I came up with is that there is no way we can allow that to occur," agency lawyer Kenneth Gilligan said.

Advertisement

"In effect you'd become de facto board members," he said. "That's not permissible."

Gilligan said lawmakers would relegated to the same status as other audience members at board meetings.

"The way it's set up is public comment," he said. "If we allow anybody else, even the fact that you're legislators, partake in board discussions, we'd have to open it up to the entire public. That's why we have public comment period."

Gilligan added that lawmakers could discuss items with agency officials before and after business sessions.

"You can ask any questions you want to anybody on the board at any other time, but you can't do it in a board meeting," he said.

The response was troubling to county Legislator Ken Wishnick, D-New Paltz, who has previously attended agency sessions and last month was allowed to raise points during board discussion.

"If a legislator had a question of what was transpiring during a board meeting, the only way we could ask that question during a board meeting was to be a member of the board," he said.

County lawmakers expect to vote this month on a resolution that adds two Ulster County Legislature members to the trash agency board. Approval would be required from the state Legislature, which completes its session on June 20.

The debate on what to do with the trash agency began when county Comptroller Elliott Auerbach in August 2010 chided the county Legislature for poor oversight that had allowed the agency to receive $31.9 million in taxpayer subsidies without a plan for repayment. Auerbach then issued a second report in February 2011 that found that there is no plan to deal with $38.91 million in long-term debt. The debt figure has been debated among several officials, with the agency's bond counsel in August 2012 reporting there are only $30.1 million in long-term bonds.